One for the Road
by sonsofmogh
Summary: Castiel, in his time working at the Gas 'n' Sip, learns the beauty of 'road food,' as well as a little bit about being human.


The days at the cash register at the Rexford, Idaho Gas 'n' Sip crawled by for Castiel (or Steve, as his co-workers knew him). For millennia, he had become accustomed to seeing things human beings could not conceive, hearing thoughts from people thousands of miles away, feeling the power of the universe cradled inside his grace, and having the ability to be anywhere at any time. It wasn't until his grace was stripped and his abilities completely gone that he understood why demons had always called their vessels 'meat sacks.' They were limited, these humans — stuck in one form and in one place, with only the voices in proximity to soothe the silence of their simple brains. Castiel did not begrudge the humans their lesser existences, but it did require no small amount of adjustment.

As he whisked off to refill the coffee pots, his stomach announced that it was empty yet again that day. Castiel sighed in resignation as he signaled to his fellow cashier that he was going to take his lunch. The manager, Nora, had given him a four dollar daily allowance for his meal, but this aspect of humanity — the part where he had to remember to eat, drink, and sleep — provided him a unique set of challenges.

Castiel wasn't sure what he actually _liked_.

And so, each day, his journey began. Castiel sampled the various comestibles the Gas 'n' Sip had to offer within his budget. He liked the beef jerky the best, but eating it made his vessel's pre-existing high blood pressure flare up. The packaged pastries were of acceptable flavor; however, Castiel found that his tongue curled rather unpleasantly at the taste of the cream filling inside most of them. Most of the hot case items were deemed extremely edible until his slacks began to fit a little too tightly after two solid weeks of consuming nothing but corn dogs. And as for hte Cup o' Soup, Castiel preferred to forget that little experiment had ever happened. It had taken hours before he could feel his tongue again after scalding off his taste buds with boiling ramen.

The only food aisle that Castiel had not visited by this point was the candy. He knew they lacked nutritional value and would not sustain his vessel the way it needed. That being said, after his self-induced corn dog purgatory, he needed to continue his trek to find what he liked to eat. There were hundreds of colorful packages, each boasting 'natural flavor' and everything else he could imagine (and a few he couldn't). Finally, after nearly ten minutes of silent contemplation, his eyes set upon a verdant pouch that said 'Gummifrogs.'

As nothing else had captured his interest by this point and his break was nearly over already, Castiel grabbed the packet, as well as a small stick of jerky (he found that he couldn't give it up completely) and checked out. As the day was warm and sunny, he decided to take his repast outdoors on the plastic picnic table behind the store. If one ignored the bird droppings, it was actually quite a picturesque vista with the mountains framing the town from three sides.

The jerky was the first thing Castiel finished off, though he took time to savor its salty richness. However, despite his lingering hunger, he looked dubiously at the Gummifrogs, hoping that they did not, indeed, taste like frogs. He didn't think they did, as the snack's shade of green was on the unnatural side, and he doubted the frog on the package would truly be grinning at him if it knew its brethren were being consumed.

With a deep breath, he tore open the package.

The first Gummifrog Castiel removed fit neatly into the palm of his hand, and he was pleased that the rubbery texture would give him something to chew, rather than having to let it dissolve. Curiously, he sniffed the inside of the bag, which smelled faintly of fruit. It banished that lingering dread of animal-flavored candy as he sank his teeth into the gelatinous amphibian's hindquarters.

The pure sensation of flavor burst in Castiel's mouth. It didn't taste like fruit, but the Gummifrog still carried a similar succulence. Almost involuntarily, his lips edged up into what even he would acknowledge as a smile of enjoyment. The rest of the Gummifrogs soon followed suit, and as he clocked back in from his lunch, Castiel found that his grin hadn't quite dissipated. He even received compliments from two customers about his cheery demeanor, which only served to cement his smile. It wasn't until the end of the day that Castiel felt his Gummifrog-induced boisterousness evaporate. Then again, every day ended like this because he found himself wondering where he was going to sleep.

However, his mind meandered back to those Gummifrogs and, on a whim, he purchased another pouch of them with the remainder of his lunch allowance, plus the loose coinage he routinely found discarded in the parking lot. Nora smiled tightly as she rang up his purchase, despite the slight film of filth that seemed to coat all the currency Castiel found on the ground. Finally, she handed him the pouch and said, "Have a good night, Steve."

"You, as well, Nora."

WIth that, Castiel returned to the picnic table and slowly enjoyed his Gummifrogs as he contemplated his new existence. Ever since he had met Dean and Sam Winchester, Castiel had learned to understand humanity in ways that his angelic brothers did and would not. There were pitfalls at every turn, from moral quandaries to the fragile bodies to the certainty that death would take a man less than a century after birth, but often even sooner. Then there was the blood and the bowel movements and the strong urge to copulate frequently. That, Castiel had known about. He had not anticipated Gummifrogs — or more specifically, that spurt of joy that they gave him.

Millions of things existed that had that power over mankind, which gave humanity a context and a fullness that he had never quite grasped. Every second, bellies ached for sustenance, groins lusted for release, babies were born, people died, and someone somewhere was tasting something for the first time. It was still a finite realm, but it looked so much bigger while inside of it. Castiel had a lifetime of similar moment to look forward to, and for the first time since Metatron had stripped out his grace, he wanted to see it through.

Castiel sat at the table for hours until the sun sank, red and blazing, below the horizon. While he knew the sun 'set' to be an illusion, he nonetheless enjoyed the visual quality of so many colors converging on a single point. It reminded him of all the things he had yet to experience, and like the items in the candy aisle, he found that he now wanted a taste of them all.


End file.
